7.3 Requirements and Guidelines for Upgrading Clusters from OES 2 SP3

In addition to the Section 4.0, Planning for Novell Cluster Services, consider the following rules and recommendations when upgrading from OES 2 SP3:

  • Mixed-mode clusters should be considered a temporary configuration that exists only during an upgrade.

  • Adding a new OES 2 SP3 cluster node to a mixed-mode cluster is not supported.

  • Linux POSIX cluster resources on OES 2 SP3 nodes must be taken offline before you allow any of the OES 11x nodes to join the cluster.

    Before bringing a resource online again, ensure that you modify its scripts for compatibility mode and configure its preferred nodes list to ensure that it is loaded on and fails over to only OES 11x nodes. You should also disable the Resource Follows Master settings until after the cluster conversion is finalized. For instructions, see Section 14.0, Upgrading and Managing Cluster Resources for Linux POSIX Volumes with CSM Containers.

  • After OES 11x nodes are added to the OES 2 SP3 cluster, the Linux POSIX cluster resources must be mounted on and fail over to only OES 11x nodes.

  • NSS pool cluster resources can fail over to any node in the mixed-mode OES 2 SP3 and OES 11x cluster.

  • No storage management functions should be executed while a cluster is in mixed-mode unless you must do so as part of the documented upgrade process. Do not attempt to create, delete, expand, or modify the properties for partitions, pools, or volumes for any shared resources in the cluster.

    IMPORTANT:If it is necessary to create, modify, or delete a pool as part of a documented cluster resource upgrade process, you must shut down the OES 11x nodes, create the NSS pool cluster resource on an OES 2 SP3 node, then restart the OES 11x nodes. This allows the OES 11x nodes to see the new configuration. This is critical so that pools are able to migrate, and to prevent possible corruption.

  • You should not create new LVM volume group cluster resources in a mixed-mode cluster. Wait until after the cluster upgrade is completed.

  • LVM2 wasn't the default volume manager on OES 2 SP3 and new features of LVM2 are only available on OES 11X, we suggest administrators don't modify LVM2 metadata, such as creating and expanding volumes, before all nodes are running OES 11.